What Remains of Our Knowledge of Language? Reply to Collins
What Remains of Our Knowledge of Language? Reply to Collins
Author(s): Barry C. SmithSubject(s): Philosophy
Published by: KruZak
Keywords: knowledge of language; representations of language; language faculty; intuitions; linguistic self-knowledge
Summary/Abstract: The new Chomskian orthodoxy denies that our linguistic competence gives us knowledge of a language, and that the representations in the language faculty are representations of anything. In reply, I have argued that through their intuitions speaker/hearers, (but not their language faculties) have knowledge of language, though not of any externally existing language. In order to count as knowledge, these intuitions must track linguistic facts represented in the language faculty. I defend this idea against the objections Collins has raised to such an account.
Journal: Croatian Journal of Philosophy
- Issue Year: VIII/2008
- Issue No: 22
- Page Range: 57-76
- Page Count: 1
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF